DigiTimes in Taipei, Taiwan, says that GlobalFoundries and Samsung have orders from Qualcomm and Apple for 14-nanometer processors to be produced beginning in late 2014 and early 2015 at Fab 8 in Malta.

DigiTimes cites "industry sources in Taiwan."

Samsung would produce the chips, the report said, using GlobalFoundries' Malta plant, which has the capacity to produce 60,000 wafers a month for the 14-nanometer process. Digitimes said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. would seek to keep Apple's business, including orders for its next-generation A9 microprocessors, by moving its own production into 16-nanometer processes. The smaller component sizes allow more transistors in the same amount of space, while reducing power consumption, which increases the life of a battery charge.

DigiTimes' sources said TSMC also would introduce a 16-nanometer turbo process that it would tailor to Apple's needs.

The Times Union reported last November that Samsung would be using Fab 8 for "flex capacity" to handle the overflow demand for S2 chips made at Samsung's plant in Austin, Texas.

A spokesman for GlobalFoundries wouldn't comment on possible contracts from either Apple or Qualcomm.

"We have customer engagements with the majority of the top fabless and fab-lite companies designing products for the leading edge, including a number of customer design wins for 20-nanometer and 14-nanometer," said GlobalFoundries spokesman Travis Bullard. "However, many of our customers prefer not to talk publicly about their supply chain strategy, and therefore we don't comment on customer products unless they do so first."

GlobalFoundries is in the midst of a $10 billion expansion at its Malta fab, including a $2 billion Technology Design Center.